Texas Republicans were key players in the fight over how party leaders would run the U.S. House, with right-wing members securing major wins.
Texans played a central role in the intraparty dispute, with three Texas Republicans voting 11 times against Kevin McCarthy’s bid for speaker.WASHINGTON — Texas Republicans helped elect U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy as House speaker early Saturday after four days of bitter infighting within their party that kept Congress at a historic standstill.
The chamber reconvened at 9 p.m. Central time Friday to start what many Republicans were optimistic would be the final vote of the night. Members brought their families into the chamber and were ebullient as they cast their votes. had to fly back to the Hill on Friday afternoon to ensure McCarthy had enough votes. Hunt tweeted that he had gone home to take care of his wife, who had a medical complication after she gave birth to their premature newborn earlier this week.
McCarthy’s is the first speaker election in over a century that required multiple votes. For the first four days, members gathered in the chamber for a monotonous series of roll call votes, often with restless jeering and heckling at each other for keeping each other from starting the House’s business. Without a speaker, members could not be sworn in, consider bills, form committees, help constituents or access sensitive information.
House Freedom Caucus member U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls took to the House floor Thursday to nominate McCarthy, saying he would be the best person to implement the Freedom Caucus’ deeply conservative agenda. Long before the speaker’s race, McCarthy had been expressing viewpoints to win over the support of the party’s right flank. He signed on to Roy’s promise to block any priorities by Senate Republicans who voted for a bipartisan $1.7 trillion appropriations bill late last year. Senate Republican leadership backed the bill, meaning McCarthy and Roy’s position could tee up major intraparty feuds between the two chambers for the next two years.
“It has become clear to me that a couple of individuals are simply obstructionists, more interested in self-promotion than restoring the Republic,” Self said in a statement after switching his vote for McCarthy.
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